Efforts by countries to attain universal coverage are often hampered by supply constraints that can reduce access to care for those already in the system and, in many Asian and developing countries, by the emergence of informal payment systems that extract under-the-table payments from patients. In 2001, Thailand extended governmentfinanced coverage to all uninsured people with little or no cost sharing. We found that Thailand has added nearly fourteen million people to the system and achieved near-universal coverage without compromising access for those with prior coverage; we also found that, to date, no informal payment system has emerged. [Health Affairs 28, no. 3 (2009): w457-w466
This paper uses the 2001 wave of National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) to assess the impact of marijuana decriminalization policy on marijuana smoking prevalence in Australia. Both parametric and non-parametric methods are used. The parametric approach postulates an endogenous probit switching model and its nested binary probit, endogenous bivariate probit and two-part models to estimate this impact. The non-parametric approach uses the propensity score stratification matching to compute alternative measures of treatment effect.Specification analysis is conducted and it appears that our sample size is not large enough to perform a reliable non-parametric estimation. It also shows that the endogenous probit switching model, which takes into account selection on observables and selection on unobservables, can provide some useful information on the average treatment effect of decriminalization as well as the effects of other socio-demographic factors on marijuana use. The parametric approach suggests that decriminalization raises the probability of smoking marijuana by 16.3%.
JEL Classification: I12, I18
Overall, the statistical results suggest that the program is continuing to achieve its goals after 10 years of operation. Insurance coverage is now virtually universal, access has been more or less maintained, government funding has continued to grow, though at rates below requested levels and 30 Baht patients are still guaranteed access to care with limited or no out-of-pocket costs. Important issues going forward are the ability of the government to sustain continued funding increases while minimizing cost sharing.
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